Only Fools And Horses "permanent cliffhanger" episode endings
Yes, people may say, it is only a sitcom, but I am sure some die hard fans of Only Fools And Horses cannot help but wonder how certain episode endings were resolved, ie, the ones which ended with a memorable scene and of which the folliwng episode did not carry on from where they left off, or the ending in the previous episode was never referred to again. I think this may have been a deliberate ploy by John Sullivan to keep the viewers guessing as to how the storyline was resolved, or for them to work out what happened next. Such as The Sky's The Limit (30th December 1990), Del finds out the satellite dish he bought was stolen from the main runway at Gatwick Airport, and at the end of an episode a plane is flying towards the Trotters flat in their towerblock. The next episode The Chance of a Lunchtime (6th January 1991), begun with Del pouring a cup of tea, and no mention at all about the plane coming towards their flat. Obviously the plane managed to swerve at the last minute. So this page tries to explore the likeliest outcome to some of these "permanent cliffhangers". Of course, not every episode did have such a cliffhanger such as Big Brother - (8th September 1981) where Del said he dumped the briefcases in the river and then invited Rodney down to the pub. And the odd episode had such a cliffhanger which was mentioned in subsequent episodes such as The Jolly Boys Outing (25th December 1989) where the end of the episode saw Rodney come into Del's flat with his suitcases, Cassandra threw him out for hitting her boss. In the next episode, Rodney Come Home (25th December 1990), Rodney said she threw him out but only for a couple of days. Anyway back to "permanent cliffhanger" episodes. Luvvly Jubbly. OFAH episodes with endings which were never referred to again in subsequent episodes and the likeliest outcome. *Go West Young Man - (15th September 1981) - On the way back from a nightclub Del, driving his friend Boycie's Jaguar, brakes sharply when he is told by Rodney that he threw the cigar pack out of the window, which had the phone number of the girls they were chatting up, and after braking, gets rammed up from behind. He finds out the person who rammed him is the Australian Man that he sold a dodgy car to. The Aussie chased Del and rodney down the street into the night and the episode ended. Likely outcome: The Aussie man caught up with them and Del offered to pay the money to have his brakes repaired, or they got away. Del then had to pay Boycie to have his Jag repaired. *A Slow Bus To Chingford (6th October 1981) - Del finds that Grandad threw all the leaflets in the dust chute, leaflets advertising Del's tours of ethnic London, and when they borrowed the bus and arranged a pick up point, Grandad kept saying no one will turn up and even conned Del into a £50 bet. In the end Del had given up and when he saw Grandad had conned him, he threw a bunch of leaflets at him and chased him up the stairs with Rodney trying to calm him down, and the episode ended. Likely outcome: Rodney calmed Del down, Del gave Grandad a huge telling off and got his £50 back. *The Long Legs Of the Law (21st October 1982) - Rodney dates a policewoman, Sandra, and when he brings her to the flat for a nightcap, she recognises a lot of stolen gear from police photos. She tells Rodney this when he takes her back to her flat. She gives him 24 hours to get rid of the gear. The following night they are spring cleaning their flat. The episode ends when Del chases Rodney when he says they should keep some deodorant in case Sandra comes round a bit early. Likely outcome: Sandra came round and saw all the stolen gear had been disposed of and gave them a stiff warning, and Rodney broke up with her. *The Frogs Legacy (25th December 1987) - Del and Rodney find out that Freddie "The Frog" - Freddie Robdal left their late mother some gold bullion in his will and he then died 6 weeks later after sitting on a detonator. They then find out the gold was buried at sea and Del says he will get it retrieved and they will be millionaires this time next year, and then the end credits rolled. Likely outcome: Maybe they realised the gold bullion could be buried anywhere among hundreds of square miles of sea, and may even be buried deep among the silt and mud of the seabed and abandoned the search. As Albert said, it took 70 years to find The Titanic, a huge ocean liner, so what chance do they have with a double sized coffin. *Dates (25th December 1988) - Del mistakes two coppers for 2 strippers as they suspect that his 3 wheel van shot the lights and caused a accident that could have been fatal when actually Rodney was driving the van with his date, Nerys Sansom as Del was dating Raquel Turner that day. Due to thinking they were strippers, Del rips open the femal coppers uniform, exposing her bra. He was arrested and the episode ended with Del asking the code of Addisa Abbaba. Likely outcome: While Del mentioned in The Jolly Boys Outing (25th December 1989) he was unexpectedly arrested, the outcome was never revealed. Maybe Rodney said he was escaping some yobs who knew him and were following him, and Del was genuinely sorry for thinking the female cop was a stripper and they were, yes, as lucky as the Trotters are, let off with a warning. *Danger UXD (15th January 1989) - Del and Rodney find the inflatable dolls they were selling were the same dolls which were being talked about on the news as being filled with propane gas due to an error at the factory. Del and Rodney had left 2 dolls by the hot air duct when they turned the heating up and the gas canister set them off and inflated them, and they were unable to deflate them. Del and Rodney then threw them away in a ditch on remote wasteground one night, and as 3 tramps had a fire nearby, a spark ignited the dolls and they blew up in the ditch. No one was hurt. As Del and Rodney got back into the van, another doll inflated. Del and Rodney got out of the van and ran off into the night, and the end credits rolled. Likely outcome: They then quickly ran back to the van and dumped the doll that had just inflated and the rest of the ones which were not yet inflated and kept a low profile for a while. Whether the police found the dolls is unknown but it seems they could not be traced to Del Trotter. *Chain Gang (22nd January 1989) - Del, Rodney and their mates Boycie, Trigger, Mike Fisher and Denzel find that they have bought gold chains off a con man who had said he had a dodgy heart, and he often faked a heart attack while clinching a deal to sell the gold chains. His name was Arnie, and as he never revealed his surname or address, he could not be traced, and the ambulance sped off too fast for them to catch him, so no one knew which of the 25 London hospitals they were supposedly taking him to. Rodney had seen Arnie faking a heart attack, and they believed the 2 "ambulance men" were his sons, and it was an old ambulance. Del and his mates managed to trap him and disguised themselves as paramedics. Del then got a pair of huge plyers and Arnie was scared. Del said for him to calm down or he will have a heart attack, and then the famous end credits rolled. Likely outcome: Del and his mates had Arnie arrested and they got all their money back. *The Sky's The Limit (30th December 1990) - Del buys a satellite dish, and he thinks it is stolen by his friend Boycie's brother in law Bronco Lane. Del finds out the satellite dish was stolen from the main runway at Gatwick Airport as he reads a news item on the TV with an image of the dish. Del says he will take it back first thing in the morning. But the dish starts flashing and turning. Del and Rodney then see a plane flying towards the towerblock they live in. They clutch onto each other and shout "Switch it Off" then the famous end credits rolled. Likely outcome: The plane swerved at the last minute and Del switched the dish off quickly and then maybe dumped it somewhere. *Miami Twice Part 2 (25th December 1991) - Even though the Romanian Riesling was briefly mentioned in Mother Nature's Son - (25th December 1992), the actual outcome of the end of Miami Twice Part 2 was never mentioned again. After their overnight flight back from Miami, Florida, USA, Del came home to find his flat full of boxes of white wine, after he stitched up the vicar in a wine deal, saying the wine would be red, as it represents the blood of Christ. Albert said to Del and Rodney "Welcome Home Boys" and the episode ended. Likely outcome: Del probably sold a lot of the Romanian Riesling but kept some boxes, which were mentioned as being in the flat in Mother Natures Son. *Mother Nature's Son - (25th December 1992) - Del had "discovered" a natural urban spring on Grandad's old allotment and pulled a scam to make Myles think the wine was from the spring, and bottled, when it was really from the tap in Del's kitchen. Del even used some Buxton Water, put it in a bottle, for Myles to test at the local labroratory. The water was approved then sold as "Peckham Spring Water". Del was sucking the land dry as he was filling up thousands of bottles a day from his tap, and had set up conveyor lines and machines in his flat. Also, some toxic waste from Grandad's old allotment, dumped there by someone, was disposed of in a local reservoir by Trigger and Denzel, Del's 2 mates. *Fatal Extraction - (25th December 1993) - *Modern Men (27th December 1996) - *Strangers On The Shore (25th December 2002) - Category:Only Fools And Horses. Category:Lists.